Want to make money in affiliate marketing? Your first step is to pick a profitable niche. This seems easier said than done: how do you know whether a niche is a gold mine or a waste of time?

The key to niche marketing success is this: test your prospective niches with research before you invest time and money into them.

I like to pick niches in which I have some experience, because it makes it easier to write content once I start promoting products in the niche. However, this is completely up to you. If a niche is completely new to you, it just means that you have to spend a little time getting up to speed.

How to Do Fast and Easy Niche Research

There are many ways to do niche research. I’ve streamlined my process into four simple steps; try this process to see whether it works for you.

1. Are There Forums in the Niche?

The first step is to see whether people are discussing the niche online. If they’re discussing the niche, then they’re used to the online world, and may be buying products in that niche online.

Just type “niche +forums” into Google. If you wanted to find dog training forums for example, you’d type “dog training +forums”.

2. Are Products Being Sold on eBay in the Niche?

This is another way of identifying whether people are buying products online which are directly related to the niche. In our dog training niche example, just type “eBay dog training” into Google’s search query field.

3. Can I Readily Identify Target Markets Within the Niche?

If the answer to the first two questions is “yes”, it’s time to dig a little deeper. Visit some of the forums for your niche, and investigate what’s selling on eBay. Make some notes.

You’re trying to discover who your target markets are, and what they respond to. In the dog training niche, you may identify several markets: pet owners, show dog owners and trainers, and professional trainers, for example.

4. Can I Reach These Target Markets Cost Effectively?

Once you’ve got a list of your target markets, it’s time to decide what it will take to market to these different markets within the niche. Can you use article marketing? List marketing? Pay Per Click? Social Media Marketing? Make a list of the marketing methods you could use.

You haven’t finished your niche research. You’ll need to choose a target market within the niche, and find products to sell to them. However, the hardest part of affiliate marketing is over: you’ve identified a profitable niche.

Get your free niche marketing report.

Niche Q

Want the secret to Internet marketing success?

Here it is in a nutshell: niche research. A good niche can bring you thousands of dollars in sales each week, whether you’re marketing affiliate products, or are using PPC.

Unfortunately, researching niches isn’t easy. In addition, once you’ve found a potential niche, you need to research the target audience, and what triggers them to buy. Most marketers skimp on the research, which means that in general our campaigns aren’t as successful as they might be.

Now there’s an answer — or there will be on January 13, 2009, when NicheQ is launched. NicheQ has immense potential, and you’re offered a taste of the quality of its niche marketing strategy and research via a completely free report. I’ve read it, and learned a lot.

Niche Q

Are you making money writing articles? If you’d like to increase your income: plan. All successful article marketers plan, here’s how you can too.

Your make-money plan for article writing has six steps; proceed step by step.

1. Decide What You’re Selling

Your articles are advertising for a product. When a prospect clicks on the link in your resource box, visits your site, then takes action and ultimately buys the product, you earn income.

If you’re new to article marketing, choose your product with care. It should not only be a product you know well, it should also be a product you like, and enjoy recommending.

2. Choose Your “Buying” Keywords

Your next step is keyword research. Choose from three to ten keywords for your product, preferably “buying” keywords which indicate that a reader is close to making a decision to buy. For example, “[Product Name] Review” is a buying keyword.

3. Assess Your Buyers — What Do They Want from the Product?

You’ve chosen your product, and your keywords. Now it’s time to think about the product’s buyers. Try to get into the mindset of buyers. What emotional triggers will they respond to? What’s their lifestyle? What do they aspire to?

4. Write a Landing or Review Page; or Send the Buyers Directly to the Product Sales Page

Successful article marketing results in sales. Think about how many steps you need for a sale with your product. Will you write your own landing or review page, adding the link to your resource box, so you can tell readers about the product?

If the product is a high-priced item, you may want to warm your prospects up first, by offering them a freebie in exchange for their contact details, so you can tell them more about the product.

On the other hand, if the product has a great sales page, and offers visitors a free report or similar to warm them up, you may decide to send prospects directly to the product sales page. (Buy a domain name and redirect it to the sales page.)

5. Create a Campaign

Now it’s time to create a campaign. Decide how many articles you’ll write. I like to write article titles and outlines at this stage, and schedule the writing in my calendar program.

6. Track Your Results

The final step in your plan is to decide how you’ll track the results. I like to use a spreadsheet for each campaign, so I can track the articles, page visits, keywords, and sales.

Writing articles is a great way to make money online, when you start with a plan.

Subscribe to Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) – it’s a complete training in making money online

Want to make money online? You can, with Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) training.
Join me, and develop your own home-based business, writing and making money on the Web.